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Hardtop Headliner

In the process of waxing the car. I live in FL so the hardtop hasn't been on the car in 2 years or more. It sits on the stand in the garage which isn't air conditioned. You probably guessed it. Took the cover off to wax the hardtop and discovered that the headliner has let loose and is drooping.

I don't recall reading about a similar problem. Has anyone else had this happen? I assume the headliner is attached to the hardtop with adhesive. Now to find a good upholstery shop in the Sarasota, FL area.

I looked at the shell with the headliner removed and might go back today to take pictures. There's some type of hard material that's attached to the shell that can't be removed. The old headliner was easy to remove being the majority of it had already become unglued. The trim shop doesn't see any reason why new headliner material can't be attached to that hard material as was the original headliner. The issue is how to tuck the new headliner around the rear window. There is space for that, but the fear is the black "ring" on the window glass will be scratched when doing so. I'm going to have the window removed so that it isn't scratched and that will also provide both better access and more room for tucking the headliner material. The window doesn't have a gasket around it so it must be glued in place. Removal of the window will be done by a glass shop not the trim shop.

I'm also having the trim shop look at the zipper area in the soft top. Mine has separated as is common on these cars.

... I live in FL so the hardtop hasn't been on the car in 2 years or more. It sits on the stand in the garage which isn't air conditioned ...

Rich

I do not want to be a smart-ass, but having an air-conditioned garage in Florida is really not a luxury. It's a necessity. Consider yourself fortunate if over time your problems are limited to a falling headliner.

Please excuse the lousy phone camera picture but here's the hardtop with the headliner removed. The tan colored material you see isn't the headliner but rather what's between the headliner and the hardtop itself. The auto trim guy doesn't see a problem replacing the headliner except he's afraid that trying to tuck it around the back window will cause scratches on the black band that goes around the window. I agreed to pay a glass guy to remove and reinstall the glass so that the window isn't scratched.

I also asked him to look at the zippered area around the back window on my soft top. The zipper has pulled apart as is common on these cars. We both examined the material and can't find any evidence that it was glued at the factory. The issue is he doesn't have a slide that will fit the zipper. He thinks its proprietary to BMW, but with it he might be able to re-zipper and secure the area with adhesive, although he can't say for certain until he sees how well it zips together. Does anyone know if slides are available from BMW? Once the top is zipped together the slide is removed so it can be used again and again. Perhaps we can get BMW NA to donate a couple of slides to the club and they can be mailed back and forth as needed.

I had my zipper surround re-glued by Marty's contact here in LA, and he used something that looked like a thin nylon picnic knife, or a very thin bicycle tyre iron. It wasn't a BMW part at all, but something he had for doing similar jobs.

Andrew Macpherson

Expert Z8 Inspections, with full support for both Z8 sale and purchases.

The replacement was fine, but I'd be very selective on who does the work. I went to someplace that had been recommended, but had a few installation problems. My parcel shelf hadn't failed. No issues with the window although I sold the car, not related to this, so I can't verify if it leaked or not. I'm not certain if all repairers will recommend removing the rear window.

I have the same problem with my Alpina where the headliner fell and also live in Tampa. Would you please share who you used in this area to replace the fabric headliner? I have hit so many dead ends and BMW wants to sell me the whole hardshell replacement which I don't need!! Thank you so much!!

Sorry for the delay in responding as I was in Germany for BMW's 100 year anniversary. I can't recommend the installer I used as he scratched the top. Any good auto upholster place should be able to do the job. I looked at books of sample material and found one that was very close to original. My guy felt the rear window needed to be removed to do the job correctly so we hired an auto glass installer to remove and reinstall the window.

Hope this helps.

Rich

Originally Posted by mlogan

I have the same problem with my Alpina where the headliner fell and also live in Tampa. Would you please share who you used in this area to replace the fabric headliner? I have hit so many dead ends and BMW wants to sell me the whole hardshell replacement which I don't need!! Thank you so much!!

Thanks for getting back to me Rich. I am still trying to find a hardtop headliner material that is close enough to original to use without much luck yet. I did purchase a new rear window so at least that is ready to go! Appreciate your help.
Deb

Hi Rich,
If I could reach out to you one more time with a question about the hartop liner replacement please! I was able to find original replacement liner and had it installed. Haven't seen the work yet and holding my breath. The upholstery company removed the rubber seal at the liner but did not want to reinstall it. Fields wants to charge $2512 to order new rubbers seals and install which sounds crazy to me! They said they could possible reuse the old seal as it has double stick on it. Did you have this situaition too? What did you do? Thank you again for your kindness to share your experience with this unfortunate experience!
Cheers,
Deb